Fractional cleansing of the large bowel with "Golytely" for colonoscopic preparation: a controlled trial.

"Golytely", a lavage solution for colonoscopic preparation, has been in clinical use since 1980. Patients usually drink all the fluid (4-61 "Golytely") the morning before colonoscopy. However, clinical observation shows that many, especially elderly, patients have difficulty tolerating these large volumes. We therefore compared two methods of drinking "Golytely" in 36 patients: One group of 18 patients underwent a two-stage lavage preparation (in the evening and the following morning before the examination), the other group drank all the fluid in the early morning before colonoscopy. Patients tolerated the two-stage method significantly better-in terms of nausea (p less than 0.05) and their willingness to repeat the procedure (p less than 0.001). In both groups the bowel was equally clean and the amount of fluid required for preparation did not differ. We conclude that this new method of drinking "Golytely" is far more convenient for the patient and does not reduce the effectiveness of bowel preparation.